Continuing his YouTube series on learning to play fighting games, longtime community luminary James Chen tackles one of the most slippery concepts in fighting games: the neutral. Not only is “the neutral” often defined in ambiguous or shifting terms, it’s also one of the most counter-intuitive parts of fighting games. For example, most of us want to see our opponent’s health bar go down. Intuitively, that’s what fighting games are all about: doing damage. Yet Chen stresses that the neutral is about something different, namely, positioning.
Insights like these are often hard to grasp, especially for newcomers. But that’s why Chen’s series is so valuable. By drawing clear conceptual lines between phases of the game and introducing players to key concepts (like Chen’s famous “economy of buttons” theory), he makes it easier to see fighting games for what they truly are.
Check out the whole video below, and, as always, show your support by subscribing to UltraChen TV on YouTube and following Chen on Twitter and Twitch.
Be sure to check out episode 3’s lesson on footsies here.